Forward Rewind
by Dawn-Roberts
Summary: Spoiler up to Season fives "You're Welcome". After Cordy dies, to children turning out to be Cordelia and Doyle appear, at age 4.
1. Erased and Replaced

Forward Rewind

_The Anti-Coma Challenge (A Cordy/Doyle Throwback)_

_After Cordelia appears to Angel in season five, she disappears from her hospital bed. Oddly enough, two children are found in her room: a little boy named Doyle and a little girl who refuses to tell the nurses her name. Cordelia, during her coma, was with Doyle in the spirit world, and brought him back with her. Since there were two of them, instead of just Cordy, they reverted back to their smaller, younger selves to accomodate the Universe's balance.  
  
Requirements:  
Doyle calling Cordy princess.  
Cordy kissing Doyle and giving his visions back.  
Doyle kissing Cordy and giving the visions back AGAIN.  
Cordy demanding a tiara.  
Doyle trying to drink alcohol.  
A root beer float._

Thanks To (and all credit pointed towards) Gidgetgirl at Chocolate Covered Strawberries - Challenge board.

COPYRIGHT- Joss' sandbox, I kick stuff around.

A/N. for some reason, its not letting me use indents. If anyone can help me abbout that, please let me know.

**:::::Chapter One::::: :::::Erased and Re-placed:::::**

(As noted in challenge, takes place after Cordy visits Angel in "Your Welcome". Right after, to be exact)

"When did she die? Did she, um. She never did wake up? I see."

As the dial tone sounded, Rita sighed. She hated this part of the job ; breaking a young man's heart. She checked her watch and scribbled a Time of Death onto the form on her clipboard. Making sure she had everything the coroner would need, she reread the paper labeled 'Chase, Cordelia Lynn ; Deceased'.

::The Spirit Realm::

"Should it take this long? It shouldn't. Should it?" Doyle panicked aloud, to no one but himself. He knew it was a bad idea, this "Spirit Body Projection".

He remembered the procedure as Cordelia had explained it to him.

"The P.T.B have this all planned out. I air quote wake up, happy reunion, yadda yadda, pass on this one shot vision deal to Broody, the 'beeeeep', flatline. Good bye Spirit coma, hello Earth pity party."

But it was the part about the "Spirit Coma" that bothered Doyle. Since she couldn't easily be in both Realms at once, Spirit Cordelia had to be comatose for the duration of her visit. But as promise, he held onto her motionless hand, anchoring her spirit body to this realm as well.

Little did he know, as Cordy's essence was split in two, it battled to stay in the Spirit Realm and the Living Realm. A battle it was about to lose.

As he struggled to stay awake, the Irish man duly noted that it was times like this he missed whiskey. And as he let his head fall, now fully asleep, he dropped Cordelia's hand for an instant, only to be awaken by an ear piercing scream.

When Doyle opened his eyes, her quickly picked Cordy's hand back up. He looked closely at her immoble body, and wondered if he had only dreampt the scream.

Suddenly, he felt a burning sensation at their joined fingers. Looking down, he noticed through increasing pain that he and the love of his life were seemingly being erased, piece by piece, from The Spirit Realm.

::L.A.::

The death report Rita had written up seemed spotless. As she stood back to the late young woman's "deathbed", the nurse reached over to flip off the toggle switch of the vitals machine. But as her fingertips brushed the switched, Rita heard the faintest noise.

"Beep beep beep beep beep.."

Visibly shocked, the nightshift worker watched with amazement and confusion as the flatline on the hear monitor picked itself up, falling into a steady peaks and valleys pattern. 'It can't be possible.' she told herself out loud. Turning around and pulling back the privacy curtain surrounding the body of her paitent, she gasped.

The body was gone. And in its place, a small girl and boy pair, hand in hand.

Picking up the phone at the bedside, she hit 'redial' and put the reciever up to her ear.

"Mr. Angel?"

A/n- Not a lung, just a review. I have the next couple chapters ready to go, but I would like reviews before posting them.


	2. Bollocks

A/N - Chap two already? Wow... Miracle much? Thanks to all the people who reviewed, and if you have any suggestions on things you want to see, Im open to hearing them and giving some a shot.

Updated- Not changed much, just Added changed what Doyle calls himself from Doyle to Allen Doyle, making chapter 3 make more sense

::::: Forward Rewind ::::: Chapter Two ::::: Bollocks :::::

"So who are these bites, again?" Spike asked, amused. From the hospital, Angel had called Harmony and asked her to assemble the rest of the fang gang in his office for when he got back with the kids.

"We don't know. Right now we only know what they've said, which is almost nothing." Angel sighed, running his hand through his hair. He still wished that the nurse at the hospital was joking.

_"Gone?" He had asked incredulously, as the nurse covering Cordy's floor stood infront of the door to her room._

_"Yessir, But it gets more odd."_

_Angel looked at her, doubting that was possible. But as she opened the door. he lost all of his doubt._

_"He says his name is Allen Doyle, and he's four." Nurse Rita stood beside the two brunette toddlers who said on the bed where Cordelia's body once was."His little friend won't talk. I've checked Pediactric, they're not missing any paitents. I don't know what to do."_

_Angel surveyed the two small children. The boy has hair that was a mess of dark curls. As he looked up at Angel, a tiny grin spread across his features._

_"Angel!" He said with a lilting Irish accent, clapping his hands together. The small version or Angel's dead friend seemed to have already adjusted well to his surroundings, but the little girl looked less adapt. She had a vice grip hold on Doyle's arm, and though she seemed confused, her puzzled look softened at the sight of Angel._

_But it was looking at her that, if he had breath, would have taken it away. It was most likely the grief making him see things, but those were Cordelia's eyes._

Even after Angel's explanation, Gunn, Wes, and Fred sat in confused silence until a certain blond vamp spoke up again.

"Okay, so that there is a reborn dead mate of your's. But what about the bird?"

Angel thought about what he was perparing to say. It made even less sense than the Mini-Doyle sitting across from him.

"I think she's-" He began, but was cut off by a squeal from his doorway, as Harmony ran into his office.

"Corry?!" She yelled, vaulting herself at the pint sized brunette. It was her pet name for Cordelia for the first few years of their friendship, and the first thing that came to mind when she saw the four year old girl.

"Harmy?" The confused little girl asked, not sure how she even recognized the larger blonde.

"Harmony?" Wes asked "Are you trying to say that **that **child is Cordelia?"

"Well, duh?" The secretary replied. "And _I_ should know , I was best friends with her, wasn't I? I have a whole photo album of us at that age."

"That's sweet and all, Harm, but maybe you should let go of her now..." Fred pointed out, noticing that Hamony's vampre strength was turning the little girl a shade of blue.

Harmony stood back up, giving the toddler back her right to breathe. Straighten her skirt, she mouthed the words _'call me'_ to Mini-Cordy, and rushed out of the office.

Angel stood up again, realizing that they needed to figure out a way to get to the bottom of how these kids became, well, kids. And alive.

"Gunn, I need you to file some papers, make sure that we are the sole guardians of these kids. Do whatever you have to do." He paused. "I never thought I'd say it, but think like a Wolfram and Hart employee, just this once."

"On it , Boss." Gunn replied, eager to do his share of dity work.

After he left Angel turned to Wesley and Fred. "I need you two doing the hard stuff. Wes, hit the books. See if there was any way we could have saw this coming, anything that would explain it. And Fred, get DNA samples from our potential reborns, see if they really are Cordelia and Doyle." After they both filed out, Angel looked at Spike. This order was going to be the biggest mistake he had ever thought possible.

"Spike, since you're just lounging around, I need you to babysit the kids." Spke started to protest, but Angel cut him off. "No, I can't do it, and no, I am not assigning them to one of the Wolfram and Hart cronies. Now don't get them killed, or I'll return the favor." It was Angel's turn to walk out, leaving Spike without a choice and with two four year olds in his control.

"Bollocks."

! Fin Chapter two!

A/N- I REALLY HOPE you guys liked this chapter. Next chapter, the madness ensues with babysitter spike.


	3. Muddy Hell

Copyright- Joss' sandbox, I'm the lil fat one kicking sand about.

Throwback with Cordy and Doyle, challenge from Gidgetgirl, yadda yadda :) 

::::: Forward Rewind ::::: Chapter Three ::::: Muddy Hell ::::: 

* * *

"Do you like toast?" Mini-Cordy asked, sitting cross legged on the floor below Spike.

"Can't say I've tried it, bitelet."

This had been going on for 20 minutes or so, leaving the bleached blonde babysitting wishing that the pint size brunette hadn't found her voice. While Cordelia was entertaining Spike with her off the wall questions, Doyle had wandered off.

Since they were in Angel's personal apartment, Spike assumed that the little Irishmen was working on hauling things off of the walls. Which was fine with him.

"How 'bout Whiskey?" Cordelia asked, smiling sweetly, and speaking of the drink as a person."Because Allen does, and he's gone to play hide n' go seek with Whiskey."

"Who the bloody hell is Allen?" Spike asked sitting up. Cordy rolled her eyes at the vamp.

"About yey high," she said, standing up on her tip-toes, "brown hair, funny accent?" As she stood there with her arms crossed, it clicked in Spike's head. Angel had explained before leaving that if, infact Doyle and Cordy were themselves at age four, the boy would most likely answer only to Allen, since his full name was Allen Francis Doyle.

"Doyle?" He asked, sitting forward and eyeing the tiny girl.

"Who the muddy hell is Doyle?" She asked seriously.

"It's bloody hell, teensy." Spike thought about it, and whether he wanted to or not, he found himself scolding Cordelia for cursing. "And don't say hell. It's a bad bad thing to say."

No sooner had it gotten out of his mouth, it looked like the scolding was going to reduce the child to tears. But, the emotion storm proved to be a fluke, as Mini-Cordy simply stuck her tounge out and plopped back down on the floor. While Spike debated scolding her for that, he remembered the subject of the conversation, and dashed of in search of the missing little boy.

After rounding the aparment once, and beginning to go around a second time, Spike heard the tinkering of glass from inside of Angel's closet. Tip-toeing toward the closet, he pushed the sliding panel aside, revealing a four year old with the entire neck of a whiskey bottle in his mouth, trying to drink the vile liquid without removing the cap. Spike sat there for a minute before Allen Doyle realized he was being watched. Looking up at Spike, he smiled innocently, mouth still full of bottleneck.

"Drop the liquor, you curly haired leprichaun." Spike said in a low, oddly calm voice. Instantly, the boy opened his mouth into a wide 'O' shape,letting the thick glass bottle fall to the ground and roll across the floor, stopping at Spike's scuffed Doc Martin's. Bending down to his eye level, Spike looked at the child formerly known as Doyle, and lowered his tone even more. "Whiskey . Is. **Not **. **For **. **Children **. Do you understand me, Allen Doyle?" Little Allen nodded, tears filling his eyes.

"Oh, no. Don't cry now, half bite." Spike's voice changed, lightened. But it was too late for the tearful toddler to turn back now. With another look up at Spike, Allen let out the most ungodly wail Spike had ever heard. And he'd heard a 600 pound chirako demon karaoke.

Before he knew what was going on, he felt teeth pierce his calf through heavy black jeans. "Son of a!" he yelp, looking down to see Cordelia latched onto him."Cord, small pint, what are you doing?"

"No no no!" She yelled, after she spit out a mouthful of pants. "You don't touch Allen. No! Leave him alone Jaquard!" Cordelia cried, pummeling him with her fists. Tears were streaming down her puffed out red cheeks., and even Allen, stunned by the show, had stopped crying. In a single motion, Spike pulled the girl off of his leg and into his arms. Fists bunched up in his t-shirt, the little girl sniffled.

"Who the bloody hell is Jaquard?"

* * *

A/N.... Good question ;) 


	4. Poor Princess

_A/N _Since a reviewer has insisted that Cordelia was not abused, but most likely neglected, I have changed this chapter around a bit, to suggest that Cordelia was never hit, but neglected and yelled at, and once pushed into a wall after making Jaquard angry.

* * *

::::: Forward Rewind ::::: Chapter Four ::::: Poor Princess :::::

* * *

Nearly a week after 4 year olds Cordy and Allen Doyle were found, Angel met with the rest of the fang gang to discuss their progress (or lack of) on the matter.

Sitting at the long table of his conference room, Angel interrogated each of his friends involved. "So Fred, how did you do with the science approach? Are these toddlers Cordy and Doyle."

Winnifred Burkle tapped her pen on the table repeatedly. Even after all this time as head of the lab at Wolfram and Hart, she wasn't a fan of being put on the spot. "Umm... actually, they're not toddlers." At the confused looks she got from everyone else at the table, she continued. "Well, I mean Cordy and Allen are four. So technically, they're too old to be considered toddlers. You guys probably thought that I meant they weren't human, like they were some demony beasts" She paused, realizing that she was rambling. She gave an embarrassed giggle." But, according to the readouts on their DNA samples, they are who we think they are, just molecularly shrunken."

"Which," as Gunn pointed out,"is FredSpeak for smaller." Standing up, Gunn went through his black leather briefcase for a moment, pulling out a folder of papers and handing it to Angel.

"As of three o'clock this afternoon, Allen Francis Doyle and Cordelia Lynn Chase the Second are completely, and legally, in your custody." Gunn said, almost gleefully, taking pride in his achievement.

"The second?" Wes asked, slightly lost.

Angel began to explain. "According to records, Cordy is a deceased 23 year old, not a living, breathing child. And according to new records created by Gunn, Cordy is now the daughter of her 23 year old self. But since Doyle was, is, half demon, human records have no mention of him every existing. So we've simply fabricated his entire family history."

"Sounds confusing." Spike said with a snort, "Not to mention illegal."

Gunn shook his head. "Actually, no. I, sadly, took the Wolfram and Hart approach, using the back door of legal."

While Wes began to discuss his research results, Spike lost interest and began starting out the windowed wall that separated the conference room from the Wolfram and Hart lobby. When he saw Harmony rush by, he got up and without a word left the meeting.

&#&#&#&#&

"I'm winning, aren't I, Princess?" Allen yelled at the tiny girl next to him. He slapped his little paper cup on the table, signaling Lorne across the table to refill it. He had seen someone do it before. With a look at the eager little Irishmen, Lorne reached over and filled the cup back to the top with the red, sugar-filled goodness known as kool-aid. He looked at 'Princess', and noticed she wasn't doing as well in Allen's drinking game. Her half full cup (that, as Lorne noted, was at least her 6th) sat abandoned, and her heart shaped face was a pale shade of green.

"You aren't looking so good, Your Highness." The green demon stated, as Allen Doyle chugged his current cup. "Are those last 6 cups gonna make a special guest re-appearance?" he added, jokingly. Until two seconds later, when the petite brunette silently made a mad dash for the bathroom, leaving Allen and Lorne on their own.

"Poor princess. I guess I win."

&#&#&#&#&

Running to catch up with Harmony, Spike stopped her in the hallway of the evil law firm.

"Harm," he said, causing the blonde secretary to turn around. "Whose Jaquard?"

"Listen Spikeykins," Harmony paused, putting her hands on her hips. "I mean, Spike. Just because we had one tiny, yet pretty amazing, little thing, doesn't mean you can tell me who I can or can't date." Knitting her brow, she thought harder about the name Spike had thrown at her. "Wait. I don't know anyone named Jaquard?"

Spike sighed, losing patience already. "No, you don't. But I think you _did_. When you and Cordelia were growing up, was there a bloke in her life that she would have saw hurt someone? An uncle, father, brother? Named Jaquard?"

"Ooh, ohh!" Harmony gasped, jumping in place. " I know where I've heard that name. Cordy mentioned him once when we were looking through old pictures and things. He was her 'man-nanny' till she was like eight."

"So what," Spike asked, "did this fellow beat up on his wife, or one of Cordelia's other dozen servants, in front of her."

"As if. The jerk was way neglecting her."

"Neglecting her?" Spike questioned "So he didn't hit her?"

Harmony thought. "Kinda. Cordy told me that he pushed her into a wall once after she threatened to tell her parents how mean he was. Thankfully he was usually all talk and no action."

&#&#&#&#&

_"Don't go mommy." Four year old Cordelia pleaded with her mother. "Cordelia Lynn. Mother has a job. You know I can't be at home. Jaquard will stay with you for a few weeks while Father and I are gone away." Lynda Chase attempted to comfort her daughter, having the opposite effect._

_"NO!" Cordy wanted to say. She wanted to grab onto her mommy's leg and promise that she'd be good if they stayed. But he had told her what he'd do if she ever told Mommy and Daddy. When her mommy wasn't looking anymore, Cordelia pulled at _

_her sleeve, revealing a yellow and purple patterned bruise. Seeing it made her tummy feel like she had been on a bazillion roller coasters._

_And she didn't want any more._


	5. Nothing But A Grin

_A/N _Since a reviewer has insisted that Cordelia was not abused, but most likely neglected, I have changed the last chapter around a bit, to suggest that Cordelia was never hit, but neglected and yelled at, and once pushed into a wall after making Jaquard angry. So you may want to check it out. 

::::: Forward Rewind ::::: Chapter Five ::::: Nothing But A Grin :::::

* * *

&#&#&#&#&

"Shopping?" Angel asked incredulously, staring at the woman in front of him.

"You know, pieces of paper or plastic used in the getting of clothing. Cordy and Allen have nothing. Theres only so many times we can wash the clothes we found them in before they fall apart." Harmony took her usual hands-on-hips stance and watch as she won her boss over.

Angel never thought he would ever think it, but his secretary was completely right. Thanks to Doyle's over-eager eating habits and Cordelia's weak stomach, the all-white outfits they had been found in were beyond the help of bleach. Although he knew he would most likely regret it, Angel slowly pulled the card to his business account out of his wallet and handed it to Harmony, who squealed at the site of plastic."Thanks Bossy! You won't even recognize the kids when I get done with them."

"Which," Angel said calmly "is why I'm sending Wesley with you."

"Him!?"/"Me!?" Harmony and Wes, who was working nearby, said in unison.

&#&#&#&#&

Although there were dozens of malls only seconds away from W&H, Harmony, while sitting in the passenger seat of Wesley's car, insisted on a certain one almost an hour away. And with a certain twosome in the backseat, it was destined to be an interesting hour.

"Everyone. I am Princess Cordelia Lynn Chase." Cordy announced from behind Harmony."And I like toast. Which is why I have written the coolest royal song ever. Called 'Toast'. It's about toast." Wes groaned while Harmony and Allen Doyle cheered her on. A very interesting hour, indeed.

Cordy bounced her head back and forth to a rhythm no one else could hear, swishing her chocolate hair back and forth. "Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy, Toast! It's the most. I like toast. Toast toast toast. Everybody loves toast, 'cause it's not gross." The tiny girl stopped to take a big breath, before singing the next piece of song without pausing. "SceptSpikeDon'tKnowIfHeLikesToastCauseHeHasn'tHadItButWhenHeTriesItHe'llLikeItBecauseItsTOOOOOOOOOOOOAST!" Exhaling, Cordelia looked like she was gonna pass out from lack of air.

"My Turn!" Allen said with a huge smile, as he clapped his hands together. "I'm a sodding liquor leprechaun!" The curly hair boy laughed, pulling together words from a certain bleached babysitter."And my song, its called 'Muddy Hell Toast Whiskey'."

Wes checked his watch. They has only been on the highway for 10 minutes.

"Good lord."

&#&#&#&#&

After 45 minutes of 'Muddy Hell Toast Whiskey', which turned out to be very similar to 'Toast' in tune, with three new main words thrown in besides toast, Wesley was very pleased to be in the mall, where the sounds of everyone else was drowning out the two four year olds. Cordelia was sitting in Harmony's arms, happily chatting about how shiny the blonde vampire's hair was. While Allen, on the other hand, was in Wesley's vice grip hold, after finding out that just because a lady's skirt _looks_ like a tent, doesn't mean its for him to play under.

"Gap Kids?" Wes asked hopefully, pointing to the first store he saw.

"Gap Kids?" Harmony repeated. "How community playground."

"Which," Wesley began, already having the urge to clean his glasses in a very Giles-like fashion, "I assume is a bad thing." Harmony just gave the former watcher a looked that said _Duh_. But, since Wesley had reminded her that it was not their money they were spending, Bloomingdale's was out of the question. So, with a mopey Harmony in tow, he made his way to his store of choice.

"I, Princess Cordy, have a few requests." Cordelia explained as soon as Harmony had set her back on the ground." No green, unless it's really aqua, no brown, or red, or black. And no blue darker than sky blue. Unless it's denim, which doesn't count."

"Sounds fair." Harmony said thoughtfully, before Wes got a chance to tell the little 'royal' that clothes were clothes.

Twenty minutes later, each with a pile bigger than themselves, the two kids went into separate dressing rooms. While Harmony went in with Cordelia, Allen Doyle insisted on going in by himself. So as he stood pushing through a rack of pants, Wes listened as Harmony critiqued every outfit that little Cordy pulled on, But he didn't hear anything coming from the stall that he had sent the green-eyed hellion into. Not a single sound.

"Allen?" He yelled, worried. He began to make his way to the door of Allen's dressing room, but before he got there, he heard a scream from the center of the store. Running in the direction of the cry, he half expected to find a blood sucking demon on the rampage. What he didn't expect, was to see a curly haired four year old run past him, wearing nothing but a grin. "Allen Doyle!" He hollered, chasing the ball of naked energy. Allen, attempting to get the better of his pursuer, ducked and ran under a display of winter jackets (why they have winter jackets in L.A., Wesley had no clue). But when he emerged on the other side, he ran right into the British man's grasp.

"Allen Francis Doyle," Wesley scolded, in a tone that was a deadly calm,"if you ever pull a stunt like that, may god help you." As the little child began to pout, Wes was hit with a horrible thought. _'I sound just like my father.' _"I'm sorry Allen." He said quickly, not even believing that he had gotten so angry, that he could be so ill tempered with a child as small as this. He had heard the lung capacity that Allen Doyle had in the car, and silently Wesley prayed that the child he was just scolding didn't cry easily. But his prayer went unanswered.

&#&#&#&#&

As they were mere feet from the exit to the mall, with a sulky Allen and a bag laden Wesley, Cordelia decided that she wasn't ready to leave quite yet.

"As Queen Princess Cordy of PrettyfulestCordeliaChaseland, I demand that I get a tiara." As Harmony laughed it off, Wesley told her 'Maybe Later', and everyone began walking away. Except Cordelia.

"I.Want.My.Queen.Princess.TIARA!" she screamed, catching the attention of everyone she was with as well as a considerable amount of bystanders.

"Cordelia Lynn, now is certainly not the time. We've had enough public outbursts for quite awhile." Wes shifted into a lighter version of father mode.

"Now.NOW.NOOWWW!!!" she wailed even louder, jumping up and down in place.

An hour or so later, Queen Princess Cordy sat happily in her half of the backseat. On her head say a shiny tiara, complete with matching scepter, shoes, and feathery boa.

* * *

A/N - Next Chapter, we see the Kids interact with Angel, and find out a bit about why they were sent to W&H 


	6. Lipstick War Paint

A/N- Sorry for the slow updatage, but hey, its a thought out chapter. The storys also starting to get substance. PLEASE REVIEW! And FYI, the sequel to my story Rewarded should be up soon. (tonite maybe!)

copyright/disclaim. -Same as rest of Story

::::: Forward Rewind ::::: Chapter Six ::::: Lipstick War Paint :::::

"Kissing tag?" Wesley asked the four year olds infront of him, while resisting a tasteful 'Oh Dear'.

"Yeah-huh," smiled Cordy, perched on Fred's lap."It's the royal game of my kingdom. And Allen has already found the kiss-stick."

As all eyes turned to Allen Doyle, the curly haired boy revealed a tube of lipstick from behind his back, a tube of lipstick that happened to match the one now missing from Fred's purse. And right then, Wes knew he was going to let it slip.

"Oh dear..."

&#&#&#&#&

If anyone were to walk into the file hall of Wolfram & Hart, it would look as though a tornado had hit the large room of file cabinets.

Surrounded by a sea of papers, Spike sat on the cool floor with two particular files open infront of him, picking up the one closest to him labeled Jaquard Williams. (It seemed that W&H had files on everyone.) The papers inside of the manilla folder were arranged chronologically, showing each child the caretaker had been incharge of over the years. He skimmed each case, looking for anything out of the ordinary. And after looking at a dozen, patterns seemed to emerge. The children, varying in age, all suffered weight loss while in his care, a fact that Jaquard explained as "Growth Spurts". Also, in half of the cases Jaquard had been fired for neglect although charges were never pressed. Coming to the page on his care of Cordy, Spike found that with her both were true.

Abandoning the folder on Williams, he picked up Cordelia's. Opening it, he saw that the folder had sections on each of Cordelia's 23 years of living, and everything about her parents. Her father, Brenten Chase, was an overseas business man, who was almost never home, while Lynda Chase was a reknowned model, often on other continents for photo-shoots until she was fired when Cordelia was 12. He flipped to Age 8, the year that Jaquard was fired, and was greeting with an older version of the four-year-old sitting in Fred's office, the same chestnut hair, tiny nose, and hazel eyes. Spike saw that unlike the other cases, her parents had known of, or at least suspected child neglect for at least 3 years before they did anything. According the the file, the final straw for the parents took place almost a year before Jaquard was fired, when Cordelia was hospitalized for severe malnutrition and dehydration. And after the 7 year old had recovered from the ordeal, he convinced her parents that the child had stopped eating as a form of 'attention getting'. Which they believed, until it happened again 8 months later, after which he was promptly fired.

Spike let the file drop from his hand. Knowing that there was really nothing he could do with the information he had gathered, he simply let it sink in.

&#&#&#&#&

Allen Doyle smiled at his fellow kiss-taggers from under two layers of dark red lipstick, complete with matching war paint stipes under his eyes, identical to the ones under Wesley's. (Wesley had won the "I do not wear lipstick" battle, agreeing on the streaks instead.) Cordelia Lynn had a superthick layer on her lips as well, and, since she hiccuped while applying it, also covering a great deal of her face.

"So who starts?" Fred asked Cordy eagerly, her original layer of lipstick still intact.

"Duh." The tiny brunette responded, hands on her hips. "The WonderfulQueenPrincess Me starts." Making a bizzare puckering face, like she had been sucking a lemon, Cordy ran at Wes and connected with his lips, leaving a wet four-year-old kiss behind. As she turned away for a second, Wes quickly wiped at his mouth. "Now you!" She grinned, pointing from Wesley to Fred, who was seated next to him, Allen bouncing up and down in agreement

As a lipstick covered Cordy pointed at her, Winnifred Burkle attempted to hide her eagerness. The man she had wanted to kiss for quite some time was being coaxed into it by an over-active pair of four-year-olds. As Wes leaned in nervously, Fred closed her eyes as a blush creeped up her neck, resting around her ears. Expecting a quick peck, she was (pleasantly) suprised when Wesley's lips lingered, his surrounding stubble tickling her chin. As she counted seconds happily, a holler from the floor broke them apart.

"Allen's turn!" The curly Irish boy bellowed, picking up Cordelia's third-person tendency. Giggling with new found shyness, Fred quickly pecked Allen on the cheek, who turned to His Highness. "Toast-Whiskey kisses for Princess!" He grinned, chasing down the four-year-old girl. As her lips met his, Fred and Wes, who were looking intently at each other, failed to notice the tiny bright blue light that emitted from their rouge covered lips.

A/N dun dun dun. R&R pweeze!


	7. Blue Lady

A/N-Enjoyed her three month break Sorry Everyone! I had the world's worst writers block! Which I have happily gotten over!!! I love this chapter, even though its notthe happiest. Please review, Tis all that fuels me.

:::::Forward Rewind:::::Chapter Seven:::::Blue Lady:::::

"Enough bubbles yet?" Angel asked, pouring Mr.Bubbles into the already suds filled bath of two certain four year olds.

"No," Cordelia grinned, flashing Angel her perfect little teeth. "but because you are Angel, His Royal Salty Goodlyness, I won't have you delapticated." The vampire just looked at the brunette, confused at almost everything she just said.

"You know!" Cordy's curly topped fellow tub occupant urged, before sliding his pointer finger across his neck in an 'off with his head' motion.

"Oh." Angel said simply, trying to keep a straight face. Both children he was carefully watching over were covered from head to toe in dirt, soap, and water, making them look like twin mud creatures. "So." He said a few moments later after washing Cordelia's hair (Allen insisted that real men don't wash their hair). "Explain to me again how you managed, Allen Doyle, to knock over not one, but all three of Fred's potted plants in one fell swoop..."

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"Angelcake?" Lorne called, walking towards the bathroom in Angel's Suite. When he got there, the green demon fought hard to supress laughter. His moody boss was covered from chin to nose in what could only be described as a foam santa beard, the only facial feature that was still recognizable was Angel's trademark brooding brow, in full form.

"Studly, huh?" Cordelia smiled at what must have been her handiwork.

"Lorne!" Angel gasped, standing up and attempting to explain himself. "He got some on my nose...then she finished it, and I wanted to wash it off...but..kids in the bathtub, too many things for Allen to 't leave them alone." He looked at Lorne pleadingly with a look that said 'WATCH THEM!' and ran to the other side of the long bathroom to wash his face. As he did so, Lorne watched the children closely. He could see that, even as they sat silently staring at each other, the two were plotting. When their glances broke apart, Cordelia looked up at Lorne from under full dark lashes.

"Lorne...will you sing me a song?" She asked, batting said lashes.

"Anything for you, Cordyla." Lorne smiled warily, but closed his eyes and sang the first song that came to him. The soulful demon continued singing until a loud plop and pitter patter of suction-y wet feet brought him back. Looking around quickly, he threw a glance at the doorway just in time to catch a sudsy Allen flying out of the room in all of his naked glory.

"Angel, doll? You _may_ want to go catch the four year old foamy fury that we call Allen."

As moments later, a blur of black he recognized to be Angel flew by, Lorne turned back towards a guilty grinning Cordelia. But before he could even find the words to scold her with, the tiny girl broke out into a verse of "The Toast Song", and he couldn't help but read her aura. Doing so, he was hit with a huge feeling of forboding along with a big heaping of purpose and reason. And although he didn't know what it was, Lorne decided in that moment that Cordelia was brought back on some kind of mission.

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"...And then Allen called Angel 'Muddy Hell Toast'!" A still dripping Cordy smiled almost 15 minutes later, sitting on the counter in Fred's lab and re-telling the story of Allen Doyle and The Great Escape. But her smile faded as she finished her tale "So no more Babysitter Spike for us."

Winnifred Burkle tried very hard to keep a solem face at the pouty, drippy Cordelia, and instead decided to change the topic. "So, my clean little queen, what is the first order of business when I get off work. Today, Fred is at your service." When Fred paused, she noticed the little girl perk up at this.

"Dinner!"

"Really?" Fred said, grinning at Cordy. She wasn't the only little girl with a big appetite.

"Yes, Freddie. Mac n' cheese for the Queen Princess and her Lady Freddie."

"Yum. Are you sure you want Macaroni and cheese? Cause I make a mean taco."

The brunette four year old pondered this. "Okay, we will have tacos. But not mean tacos, pretty tacos. Pretty not mean mac n' cheese tacos! And root beer floats." While Knox, who was working alongside Fred, thought that that was the least appetizing meal ever, Fred thought it sounded quite wonderful. Which she was about to tell the little girl, but never got a chance to. Because at that moment, Cordelia let out a shattering scream and fell to the floor, convulsing as split second images flooded her brain.

_-Shiny box-Pretty stones-Fred touching it-Coughing-Kissing- Wes-Fred singing-Bleeding-Coughing-Crying-Plane-Tree-Cave-Spike-Hole-Coffin-Wes-Book-Crying-Pain-Blue Lady-_

When Fred was finally able to wake up Cordelia, the little girl was screaming different things to her with a hoarse throat.With soothing noises and gentle hand Fred finally succeeded in calming her down. She then tried to get the little girl to explain the vision, which sent her back into hysterics.

"Freddie-shiny boxy coffin-pretty stones-don't touch the pretty stones-stop the Blue Lady from hurting us" Sobs were now coming from the little girl, whose voice seemed so weak from screaming.

"-don't die, Freddie."

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A/N- Whaddya think? Reviews are pretty much the only way I keep writing. lol


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